Means for cooling perishable food products



June 13, 1933. y s, J, BENNETTER 1,913,624 y MEANSIFOR COOLING PERisHABLEFooD PRODUCTS yFilecl May 4, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 13, 1933. s, J, BENNETTER 1,913,624

MEANS FOR GGOLIG PERISHABLE FOOD PRODUCTS Filed May 4. 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 13, 1933. s. v.1 BENNETTER 1,913,624

MEANS FOR COOLING-PERISHABLE FOOD PRODUCTS Filed May 4. 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 /0 I I /0 C l H3 'E I I |`1` E* l I n. n Il 'E' l' l i n l ":lnnl )nnnhn 1?,

Patented .lune "13, 1933 i SIGVAB'J! JOHAN B ENNETTER, OF OSLO, NORWAY l IMS rFOB COOLING PERISHABLE FOOD PRODUCTS Applicationmed Hay 4, 1928. Serial No. -275,201.

The invention relates to cooling perishable goods such as meat, fish, fruit, ale and the like durin their transportin railway cars and the object of the invention is preserving by cooling in a suitable manner such perish- `able loads.

It is well known that the transport of perishable goods has hitherto met with great difficulties especially when the goods have to be transported over long distances, as an example through hot and cold districts. Such diii'iculties are also increased by the fact that the temperature of the goods, in order to avoid destruction, should `be maintained at a certain height and many goods are very sensitive to a rise of temperature ifa development of bacteria and the like are to be prevented.

According to" present invention these f diiiculties arefovercome in a quite satisfac tory manner by very simple means by arranging a compelled circulation of the air of the car soV that the heat contained in the goods to be cooled is removed during a short period so that the development of the bacteria is checked and the goods preserved in their natural state.'y In this way fresh killedmeat may be transported without being pre-cooled in cooling rooms, whereby time and money 3 are saved in addition to the fact that cooling rooms are not always available. d

In stationary plants Vit l-is known to cool goods in a cooling chamber by circulating acurrent of air over a cooling materialin a direction opposite to the direction of motion of the cooling material and then over the goods.

The adoption of sucha scheme to the present problemhoweve'r has met with considerable difficulties which are further increased by the 40 `fact that -fresh. air cannot be admitted to aV railway'car as in astationary plant and the circulation of air has to take place in closed cars. 1 i

` In a known car for `the said purpose the air '45 yis forced' by a fan from thebottom partof the car through a cooling device at one end of the car and .is passed in a longitudinal direction `of the car to. the opposite endr thereof "and thence recirculated'through the bottom of the A carA and 'the cooling device. -Such arrangement however involves two serious 'disadvantages viz. the cooling air'will not be uniformly distributed 4in the carroom and a circulation will cease immediately the, fan is i stopped. 1

These disadvantages are avoided according to the present invention.

The invention consists therein that fresh airof uniform temperature is obtained in all parts of the car room by special circulating @o arrangement connected to a combined air cooling and cleaning arrangement. A

According to the invention the air is gathered in special channels arran ed around the upper .part of the car room. rom these 35 channels the air is sucked in by a fan and is forced by the same through a washing vat at, the upper part of the car room. From this vat the air is passed into a cleaning containerlin which it obtains an intimate contact with cooling meansso as to be cooled and cleaned by the same and leaves the sameA through a series of holes at the upper a'rt of the same and will pass downward a ong the cold-outer sides of the container being 475' thereby dried as the moisture will be kept' A back by the cold walls of the container so that the dried, cooled and cleaned air will be returned to the car roomI 'and will sink z gradually through the same, whereupon the 30 air after being heated by the goods will be gathered again'in thegatliering channels. v,

The invention will beclearly understood from the following descriptionl in which the nature ofthe invention is full described.

A suitable form of a car adapted or performl ing the invention isl illustrated inthe accompanying, drawings in which; ,w

Fig, 1- isla diagrammatic sidevievwfiAJ l Fig; 2` isa sectional vie upon arcentral 90 cross-line lookin-g towardV the. left .part `f the car shown in Fig. '1. Fig. 3 4is a plan view.

Fig. 4 is a central longitudinal section. Fig. 5 isa sectional view of! a carl similar '95 to Fig. 2 having the fanarrangedin theinte- .rior of the car and drivenfb'y belt whereas ,the formaccordingto 2 lasfthe fan exterior of the car arrangedto driven'by u flexible shaft. ma

Fig. 6' is a sectionalmview upon a horizontal line through the precooler and the main cooler.

A fan l which is driven from a wheel shaft by a flexible shaft or other suitable mechanism sucks air from the interior of the car through a channel 2 and forces the same through a channel 3 which communicates with aV precooler and washer 4L which takes up cold water from the main cooler which communicates with the same through an opening near to the bottom. In the precooler'the air passes along the surface of the cooling water and passes through a special druml 6into the main cooler 5 (Fig. 4) surrounded by cooling means as ice or ice and salt. The drum is perforated at its lower part so that the air will pass from the same iirst downward and then pass upwards and leave the container 5 through apertures 7 at the upper part of the same. In this way the air will obtain a very intimate contact with the cooling means and therefore all impurities in the air will be kept back. From the apertures 7D the airk will pass downward along the outer sides of the container through channels 8. The channels have their opening in a longitudinal direction of the car and through this opening the cold air will sink downward owing to its low temperature. When ,passing the outer cold sides of the container the air will be dried simply by the condensation of a considerable portion of its contents of water. The cold air now willy sink gradually to the bottom of the car and will thereupon, as it is gradually heated, pass upwards again along the walls of the car and will be sucked in` through apertures l() in the sides of the channels 11 communicating with the suction channel 2.

The water deposited in the channels 8 is removed by a drip channel 9. As the icemelts in the container 5 ice water will pass through the mentioned opening at the bottom into the recooler/l so that this is maint: ined filled with cold water to a suitable degree. The precooler is provided with an opening through which water is removed in order to prevent overfilling.

When the fan is stopped it will be understood that the 4cooling action will not be interrupted. Owing to the cooling action of the walls of the ice container the air will still sink gradually toward the bottom and will pass upward along the walls in the same way as when the fan is acting. However the air will now owing to the fact that it is not sucked in through the apertures 1 0, continue to the upper part of the car, that is to say, to the upper part of the container 5 whereupon it is cooled again and will pass downward for further'circulation.

I n order that the temperature may be maintained unchanged in the car, a valve 12 controlling the flow of. air is placed in the -tainer, and out t suction channel 2 and controlled by a thermostat 13 so that the valve 12 when the temperature is becoming lower than required is .cooled to the temperature required for safe transport.

In this matter it will be possible to transport the goods without any risk through districts having greatly. varying temperatures as the thermostat willautomatically main-l tain a uniform temperature necessary for checking bacteria life.

In order to reduce the consumption of ice Vas much as possible, the inner walls of the car are preferably covered by or consist of polished metal or the like. The polished surface may be arranged as a coverin surface of an insulating packing on the inside of the walls of the car.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details shown and described and that the same may be varied without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:

1., Apparatus for cooling perishable goods such as meat, fish, fruit and ale during transport in railwa cars, comprising a compartment arrange longitudinally in the-car and adapted to receive the goods, a container for cooling medium disposed longitudinally in the top part of the car compartment and presenting cooling surfaces forming the exterior container walls, outlets disposed in said walls, means for sucking air from the interior of the compartment and forcing it through the cooling rough said outlets and means for directing such air past said cooling surfaces and in the form of a descending central stream of cold air substantially over the whole length of the compartment.

2. Apparatus for cooling perishable goods such as meat, fish, fruit and ale during transport in railwa cars, comprising a compartment arrange longitudinally in the'car and adapted to receive the goods, a container for cooling medium disposed longitudinally in the top part of the car compartment and pre.

medium within the conpartment, a perforated drum arranged ini side the container and the coolin medium therein, channels connecting the rum with the compartment, means for sucking air from the interior of the compartment .through the channels into the drum and forciner it vout througli'the perforations, through thecooling medium within the container and out through said outlets, and means for directing such air past said cooling surfaces and in the form of -a descending central stream of cold air substantially over the whole length of the compartment.

3. Apparatus forcooling perishable goods such as meat, fish, fruit and ale during transport in railway cars, comprising a compartment arranged longitudinally i n the car and adapted to receive the goods, a container for cooling medium disposed longitudinally in the top part of the car compartment and presenting cooling surfaces forming the exterior container walls, outlets disposed in said walls in a longitudinal direction of the compartment, a perforated drum arranged inside the container and the cooling medium therein, a y precooling and washing device connected at one end with the drum, channels connecting the other end of said device with the compartment, means for suclrin air :from the interior of the compartment t rough the` channels into the device and forcing it through the channels to and through the device and then into the drum and forcing it out through the perforations through the cooling medium Within the container, and out Ythrough said outlets, and means for directing such air past said cooling surfaces and then in the form of a descending central stream ofcold air substantially over the whole length of the compartment.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the cooling surfaces constitute the bottom walls of the container and in which the means for directing the air past said cooling lsurfaces comprise channels com municating withl the container and arranged along the side walls of the same in order to effect drying of the cooled air.

5. An apparatusas claimed in claim 1, in which the cooling surfaces constitute the bottom walls of the container andY in which the means for 'directing the air past said cooling surfaces comprise channels communicating with the container and arranged along the side walls of the same in order to effect drying of the cooled air, said channels leading to a central longitudinal outlet slot for air having passed along the cooling surfaces and descending into the compartment.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2,^in which the means for circulating the air comprises a fan with a suction channel connected' with the interior of the compartment and a delivering channel connected with the drum, said suction channel being provided with a closing valve controlled b a thermol stat in such a manner that the atter opens the valve'at its maximum temperature and closes the valve at its minimum tem rature whereby the volume of the stream o air will depend upon the temperature of the compartment.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the cooling surfaces constitute the bottom walls of the container and in which the Ameans for directing the air past said cooling surfaces comprise channels communicating with the container and arranged along the sidewalls ofthe samein order to effect drying of the cooled air and including a drip channel arranged under the container to receive and carry off water formed 'by 'con densation on the cooling surfaces. 8. Apparatus forcooling perishable goods such as meat, fish,- fruit and ale during transport in railway cars comprising a compartment arranged longitudinally in the car and adapted to receive the goods, a container for A.

cooling medium disposedlongitudinally in the top part of the car compartment and presenting cooling surfaces forming the exterior container walls, outlets disposed in said walls in a longitudinal direction of the compartment, top channels arranged laterally in the compartment and o ening to the latter and connected to the in et of the container, means for sucking air from the interior of the compartment into said'top channels and forcing it through the cooling medium within the container, and out through said outlets, means for directing such air past said cooling surfaces and then .1n the form of a descending central stream of cold air substantially over the whole length of the compartment, so that the air rising along the longitudinal sides of the compartment is collected by the said top channels.

9. Apparatus for cooling perishable goods such as meat, fish, fruit and ale during transport in railway cars, comprising a compartment arranged longitudinally in the car and adapted to receive the goods, a container for cooling medium disposed longitudinally in the top part of the car compartment and presenting cooling surfaces forming the ei;- terior container walls, outlets disposed in said walls in a longitudinal direction of the compartment, top channels arranged laterally in the compartment and opening to the latter and connected to the inlet of the container, a fan inserted in the connection between the two channels and the container 1nlet for sucking air from the interior of the com artment into said top channels and forcing it through the cooling medium within the container, and-out through said outlets means for directing such air past said cooiing surfaces and then in t e l'form of a descending central stream of cold air substantially over the whole length of the compartment, so that the air rising along the longitudinal sides of the compartment is collected by the said top channels.

5 10. Apparatus 'for cooling perishable goods in a car, comprising a cooling device With cooling medium arranged longitudinally in the top of the car, a container arranged also in the top of the car and receiving cold melting Water from the cooling device, means for sucking air from the compartment of the car and for forcing such air over said melting Water, means for thence conducting the air in Contact with the cooling medium to further cool and tov purify same, and means for' conducting the air so cooled back into the car compartment in the form of a descending central stream substantially over the whole length of the compartment.

In witness whereof I aix my signature.

SIGVART JOHAN BEN N ETTER. 

